The OECD Environmental Outlook to 2030provides analyses of economic and environmental trends to 2030, and simulations of policy actions to address the key challenges. Without new policies, we risk irreversibly damaging the environment and the natural resource base needed to support economic growth and well-being. The costs of policy inaction are high.

But the Outlook shows that tackling the key environmental problems we face today -- including climate change, biodiversity loss, water scarcity and the health impacts of pollution -- is both achievable and affordable. It highlights a mix of policies that can address these challenges in a cost-effective way. The focus of this Outlook is expanded from the 2001 edition to reflect developments in both OECD countries and Brazil, Russia, India, Indonesia, China, South Africa (BRIICS), and how they might better co-operate on global and local environmental problem-solving.

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An estimated 60% of the world’s population will live in urban areas in 2030. Urban populations will expand particularly rapidly in developing countries, where the infrastructure needed to support human health and the environment – e.g. water supply, sewage systems, waste collection – is often not in place. A continuing trend towards urban sprawl, particularly in OECD countries, will put pressure on the environment in the coming decades through land use stress, fragmentation of natural habitats, long-term soil degradation and increases in transport-related greenhouse gas and air pollution emissions. A holistic approach is needed to integrate urban design with spatial planning, social objectives, transport policy and other environmental policies (e.g. waste, energy, water). The diversity of urban areas – in terms of history, geography, climate, administrative and legal conditions – calls for urban policies to be locally developed and tailor-made.